co-sleep your kid into a healthy weight?

Here’s an interesting article on a preliminary study (he said she said…) recently released on how co-sleeping with your child can reduce the risk of obesity by up to 70 percent!

Read the Article here

Check out synop on the study here

Kids who were already pre-disposed toward being overweight or obese were studied and the findings were that:

• Kids who came to sleep with their parents were half as likely to be overweight than those who did not.
• Those who slept with their parents every night were 2/3rds (70%) less likely in comparison with those kiddies that didn’t sleep with their parents ever.

Why? Of course medicine doesn’t know for sure but it seems reasonable to assume that children who feel safe and embraced with their care-givers are going to be happier and healthier. Happier, healthier children who feel acknowledged and supported are more likely to be less stressed, manage stress better, and generally feel more secure which leads them to make overall healthier lifestyle choices. Plus, they may get a better night’s sleep (even though you might have a healthy, happy toddler sleeping on your face!)

Of course the articles make mention of the AAP (not that we’re necessarily a fan with all their recent circumcision nonsense) not recommending co-sleeping with infants (due to SIDS- alluded to in a previous blog here), the message is clear: the more connected humans, parents, children are, the happier and healthier we become.

Sounds about right to this blogger.